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Level Styles
Introduction This page introduces various styles and techniques of levels in the Super Mario Flash series. (Feel free to add or edit this page, since this page is largely based on personal opinions) * Styles italicized are the ones that are unacceptable, not recommended, or avoided by creators due to some reasons. * Styles with strikethrough are the ones that are no longer present or lost fame. Level Creating Techniques The following are level creating techniques, mostly involving the making of interesting gameplay. * Backtracking(Mostly SMF2): This involves going forward, doing something in order to progress the level, and going backwards, usually to where the player started. This is normally done horizontally, but can also done vertically. Using this technique to the ends can create byzantine puzzle levels. * Race: This requires the player to run towards the certain place as fast as possible, or at the exact time. ** P-switch race(SMF2 only): During the activation of the P-switch, the player has to traverse to the end of the course before the P-switch timer ends. Often, the timer can be extended by activating more P-switches. This technique can become quite frustrating to players if the challenges in the path is too hard and/or the time to reach the end is very limited. One of the frequently used Kaizo techniques. ** Shell race: The player has to run as fast as the shell is moving, trying to keep the shell on screen. In any of the Super Mario Flash series, the kicked shell is slightly faster than Mario,(except for the hyperspeed Mario glitch in SMF1) so the creator has to meticulously time the shell by adding more terrain on the shell path. This technique is similar to P-switch race, but works for both SMF1 and SMF2. ** Guidance: This technique, unlike other techniques, does not require speed, but accurate timing instead. An example of this style is guiding the mushroom or a goomba to the end of the level. This technique usually appears on difficult puzzle levels and spans throughout the entire level. * Fish rush: One of the techniques in casual styled levels. This technique uses a sprite generator to summon fish randomly. * Door/Pipe Maze: A tecnique involving a lot of doors; If the player goes to the wrong way, the player is teleported back to the start or some sort of penalty is involved. This technique is sometimes used in ghost houses, but not recommended unless certain circumstances, as it easily creates frustration. Styles common in both SMF1 and SMF2 * Casual: Most common style. Level layout is similar to what one would see in a normal Super Mario level. Although this style has no specific name, it is the most popular among the community. ** Tank levels: This usually involves a fixed layer 2 and a scrolling layer 1.(autoscroll 2) Normally, tanks include bullet bills, but it is not an obligation. * Conceptual: This style is a casual-styled level with a twist. It usually bases on one or more concept and uses it throughout the level. ** In some levels, glitches are required to complete a level. This adds to the creativeness of a level, but can be frustrating to those who do not know the glitch and sometimes breaks the level or gameplay. When using glitches in the level, discreet usage is recommended. ** Tour: Part of a conceptual style. The level with this style mostly involves Mario's visit of a certain "peaceful" place. This style is currently avoided because of early/novice creators abusing it. * Hold: This style is an automatically played level style, mostly involving holding one or more of the control keys throughout the level. Hold one of the keys and the level is played by itself, by precisely placed tiles and sprites. Normally, the level is rated "Easy" because there is no challenge, but sometimes rated "Extreme" because of the nature of the gameplay. ** Ironic enough, although this style is one of the most famous styles in the community, it used to be treated with contempt, as the early stages of hold levels involved massive monster overloads and felt too short, although it wasn't short. Currently, these factors in hold levels are tolerated. ** Hold Nothing(Auto): A hold style with a twist. The level is literally automatically played, while the player does absolutely nothing. ** Hold Anything: This is a style started by the user "oomphalapompatronium". Possibly the final evolution of the hold style, the level with this style can be played by the player's choice: the player can hold any key(s) that the level creator has prepared. * Puzzle: This style involves the player using sprites and/or tiles in certain way in order to progress the level. It requires the player to think deeply about the situation. It sometimes require the player's knowledge about glitches, etc. * Kaizo: A level style that tests players' skill to the limit. This level style mostly involves extreme precision or speed, and often requires using items or glitches to the player's advantage. Some Kaizo levels are easier, while others are almost humanly impossible, while theoretically possible. ** Some Kaizo levels have trollish sprite/tile placements requiring memorization, which is largely inspired by Super Mario World rom hack kaizos. This is not recomended as it causes frustration. ** Although this style is a niche in the community, it is losing fame by multiple reasons: 1. During the PG era, quite a lot of Kaizo users are banned for inapropriate behavior, such as spamming/hacking the site, and a few others left because of losing interest. 2. A lot of Kaizo users from PG is not migrating to Level Palace. * Boss Bash: This style involves a lot of boss fights packed altogether in one level. Each boss fight as its own twist in, so that the player can try every battle without losing interest. Styles in SMF1 * Coin Bonus: This style rose as a short fad during some time at 2013.(Citation needed) The entirety of the level is filled with coins, except for terrain and scenery. This style had some criticism as it contained little or no challenge at all. Although it provided some fun to players trying to obtain all coins throughout the level, the style no longer exists as of today. * Troll: This style, for the most part, is inspired by a lot of other platformer that involves unfair traps, such as Syobon Action(Cat Mario), I Wanna Be The Guy, etc. Although this can be done in SMF2, it is mostly common in SMF1 because of the invisible coin block, currently exclusive in SMF1. (Although SMF3 does feature invisible blocks, invisible blocks in SMF3 is incomplete; it is still interactive before activation.) Most of the players in the community does not like this style. Styles in SMF2 * Marathon: In SMF2, there are abnormally long levels. This style is used exclusive in SMF2 because players can extend SMF2 levels beyond 9980px via code editing. (Doing so in SMF1 will crash the game) This style may cause frustration on the technical side; some players' computer isn't up to the task of loading extremely long codes, possibly causing game freeze. ** The longest level of SMF2 known to the community is Centrifugal Centennium, with 208,000px in vertical length.